Editor’s Note: the original version of the story had the incoRrect figure for November unemployment in Elkhart County.



Justin Leighty

jleighty@etruth.com

ELKHART — Unemployment rates for Elkhart County and for Indiana rose in December, with the county’s unemployment rate reaching 9.3 percent and the state reaching 8.5 percent, according to numbers released by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development Friday morning.

Elkhart County was in better shape than neighboring Noble and St. Joseph counties, but LaGrange, Kosciusko and Marshall counties all had lower unemployment rates.

The rate was a jump from November’s 9.0 percent, though still significantly lower than December 2011, when the unemployment rate was 11.2 percent.

The last time Elkhart County’s unemployment was higher was in March 2012, when it was 9.9 percent.

Statewide, the private sector added 8,300 jobs in December, according to the state.

According to Scott Sanders, commissioner of the state’s workforce development department, even with the job growth the state’s unemployment rate rose due to more than 7,000 unemployed residents returning to the labor force to look for work.

Neighboring Michigan lost 10,600 jobs last month, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Midwest regional unemployment rate was 7.1 percent, according to the BLS numbers.

The national unemployment rate for December was steady at 7.8 percent, according to the BLS.